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Call to Arms
In the Dominion invasion ' |image= |series= |production=40510-524 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe |director= Allan Kroeker |imdbref=tt0708512 |guests=Andrew J. Robinson as Elim Garak, Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun, Marc Alaimo as Dukat, J. G. Hertzler as General Martok, Chase Masterson as Leeta, Melanie Smith as Tora Ziyal |previous_production=In the Cards |next_production=A Time to Stand |episode=DS9 S05E26 |airdate= 16 June 1997 |previous_release=In the Cards |next_release=(DS9) A Time to Stand (Overall) Scorpion Part 2 |story_date(s)=50975.2 (2373) |previous_story=In the Cards |next_story=A Time to Stand }} Summary When Starfleet Command notifies Sisko that he must stop further Dominion reinforcements from reaching Cardassia, he decides to mine the entrance to the wormhole — a move that will likely lead to war. Dax, Rom, and O'Brien hatch a plan to fill the wormhole entrance with self-replicating mines, but the entire minefield must be in place before it can be activated. This means the plan is likely to be detected, and the Defiant attacked, before the minefield is ready. When Sisko reveals that Starfleet cannot send reinforcements, the crew realizes the station may be lost. Shortly after Dax and O'Brien set off to deploy the minefield, Weyoun, the Dominion representative, arrives with a warning that they will take over the station unless Sisko removes the mines. Refusing to back down, Sisko alerts the crew to the Dominion's impending attack. He asks General Martok to patrol the border and informs Kira he will endorse the non-aggression pact the Dominion proposed to Bajor, hopefully ensuring the planet's survival. After hurriedly marrying Rom and Leeta, Sisko is notified by Martok that the Dominion force should arrive within the hour. The station is evacuated while Sisko, his officers, and a few others remain behind. As the battle begins, they fight the Jem'Hadar from the station while Martok and his troops protect the Defiant, allowing Dax and O'Brien time to finish the minefield. With the Dominion continuing to bear down, Sisko orders all remaining Starfleet personnel to evacuate. Sisko addresses Kira, Odo, Quark, Rom, Morn, and the few others who will remain behind, promising to fight until he can return to the station. He also reveals that while they were keeping the Dominion occupied, the rest of the Federation fleet was destroying Dominion shipyards in Cardassian space. Preparing for a rendezvous with a Federation task force and a final battle with the Dominion, Sisko joins his crew and departs in the Defiant. Unfortunately he must leave without Jake, who secretly arranged to remain behind and report on the imminent events. Back on DS9, Kira, Odo, and their remaining comrades disable the station before surrendering their home to Gul Dukat and the Dominion. Errors and Explanations Internet Movie Database Continuity # During the episode, Worf states that the Defiant will be unable to raise her shields when deploying the mines. During the battle, three Jem'Hadar ships attack the Defiant, and the vessel's shields are clearly visible. Perhaps the shield was modified to leave enough of a gap for the minelaying. Revealing mistakes # When the Defiant and the Rotarran join the mixed Klingon/Federation fleet, several Galaxy-class vessels, being the most notorious among others, have no registry number or identification at all. These were probably quickly assembled to provide additional firepower. # There are three small ships that would appear to be Defiant-class, although the Defiant itself was said to be the only one in service. Starfleet must have decided to put the Defiant class into production by this point. EAS # It is unclear how the Dominion could have possibly agreed to a cease-fire of several minutes, long enough for all Starfleet personnel being able to leave the station and even for Sisko to hold a speech. Would Weyoun and Dukat really forego the opportunity to kill them all or to get prominent prisoners? That could have been interpreted as a violation of the non aggression pact. Nit Central # Cableface on Monday, March 01, 1999 - 2:22 pm: The Defiant in this episode has to fly around the mouth of the wormhole and drop the mines. This takes hours and near the end puts the ship in considerable danger. But , if every mine is self replicating, why can't they just drop one and let it replicate the entire field? It's like a Von Neumann machine; let's say you want to build a load of robots. You don't build them all yourself. You build one that can build another one that can build another one. And in a short time you have thousands. To be able to replicate the minefield, every mine must know where every other mine is supposed to be, so it knows where to replicate the new one.So why can't they build one mine, program it with schematics of the minefield and let it replicate a few mines, which will replicate more mines and so on. They could have it done in minutes with little or no risk. Chris George (Cgeorge) on Friday, January 29, 1999 - 8:14 pm: Didn't they say that it took several of the mines working together to replicate another? And besides, it probably saved a lot of time, energy, and matter to lay several mines than to try to let one little mine try to replicate the whole field. # JD on Tuesday, February 23, 1999 - 2:05 pm: When Sisko asks about the status of his program (which will destroy any "luxuries" of the station), the computer responds that it's ready to be activated "on YOUR command," referring to Sisko. But it's Kira who activates the program. He obviously included permission for Kira to activate the program in the coding. # BrianB on Thursday, April 15, 1999 - 4:06 am: Is Nog on summer vacation, or is he an Academy drop-out? Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Thursday, April 15, 1999 - 1:38 pm: Nog actually graduated early. He is now an Ensign. Chris George, DS9 Moderator (Cgeorge) on Thursday, April 15, 1999 - 1:43 pm: Brian, it seems that Nog was assigned to Deep Space Nine on an academy training year. This has been previously established as canon - it seems Kirk was granted the rank of Ensign/Lt. J.G. while still in the academy, and Picard was assigned to Morikin VII (where he ran into the Nausicaans for the first time).Jason on Friday, April 16, 1999 - 8:15 am: I thought that Picard had just graduated when he met the Nausicaans. Wasn't he waiting for his first assignment? Chris George, DS9 Moderator (Cgeorge) on Friday, April 16, 1999 - 2:38 pm: Well - that was when he got stabbed, and that was on Starbase Earheart, I believe. He also said to Riker that he ran into a band of "surly Nausicaans" before that point. ' # When the war broke out, Nog was given a field commision and permanently assigned to Deep Space Nine. This of course begs the question, why assign a raw cadet to what is turning out to be the front lines of a coming war? And also - any military people out there know the current naval protocol in times of war - are naval cadets commonly given a field commision, and if so, how permanent is that field commision? # ''Keith Alan Morgan on Thursday, April 29, 1999 - 8:24 am: Why do Sisko and Rom need to brush up on their Bajoran when they have the Universal Translator? ''Merat on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 12:27 pm:'' To honor the Bajoran people and their customs. It might be considered an insult to use a UT during a religious ceremony.' # ''TWS Garrison on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 5:37 am: Why was the Defiant acting as a minelayer? She was designed for combat, with little interior space. There shouldn't have been room for the mines/minelaying/mine-making equipment. This task could have been done more effectively by one (or more!) cargo ships, with the Defiant flying escort. They may not have been any cargo ships available, especially given the time constraints. # What happened to the runabouts? DS9 was defended by only the Defiant and one Bird of Prey. At that point, even a runabout could have helped. At least the runabouts could have evacuated crew, instead of cramming all Starfleet personnel into those two (small) ships. They may have been busy transported people who left before the battle started. # I was surprised when, after the wedding, Sisko said he had to leave for "business". Um, conducting the ceremony was business, for a captain---it would have sounded more gracious if he had said he had to attend to "less pleasant business". He obviously considers conducting a wedding to be more pleasure than business. # David (Guardian) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 - 12:53 am: Presumably the runabouts are evacuated with the rest of Starfleet, and Starfleet reassigned the same runabouts back to the station in S6? (both the Rio Grande and the Rubicon make appearances after this episode).This may have been done to demonstrate the Federation’s commitment to Bajor, especially as the Rio Grande was used to confirm the existence of the wormhole/Celestial Temple, and the aliens/Prophets that resided within it. # Whoever fires the weapons on DS9 is a bit less trigger happy than in "Way of the Warrior", but much more accurate. Christopher P. Sedtal (Clabberhead) on Friday, June 15, 2012 - 1:53 pm: That would be Mr. Worf. # Why didn't the Dominion ships ram the Defiant? It’s too fast and maneuverable for that! # Why didn't the Dominion ships blow up the minefield before it was activated (like in "Sacrifice of Angels", where the disabled mines blew up in a chain reaction)? Perhaps they held off due to fears that detonating the mines without first disabling them would prevent use of the wormhole, and the fears could only be laid to rest after months of study. Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine